Space 1999 #33: New Adam, New Eve

"God" takes four Alphans to a new Eden to restart the human race.

WHEN: The episode takes place 1095 days after Breakaway on Sep.12 2002. It first aired on Oct.9 1976.

REVIEW: What does God need with a moonbase? Space 1999 does Star Trek V, or if you care about proper chronology, "Who Mourns for Adonais?", with an immortal being that creates divine effects mechanically. Instead of a Greek god, Magus claims to have been such famous wizards as Merlin. That's AFTER his first story falls apart. I'm just scratching my head wondering how Helena can spend any amount of time believing this flim-flam man. Alpha has already encountered too many aliens who can do anything with the wave of a hand for anyone to start thinking this is miraculous.

Had the episode taken place during Season 1, I think it might have been more of a meditation on religion and faith. As it is, it's only briefly touched on. Instead, Season 2's theme of forging our own destinies is restated. Nice to see, but not particularly complex. This "God" does give the Alphans a lot to shout "free will" about, including turning them into swingers. There's obviously something in the air (I believe it's what you'd call "soft focus") and Helena winds up in Tony's arms, and Maya in Koenig's. Mutated monsters rescue us from fanfic romance before it goes too far, thankfully. The characters bristle at being told who to mate with, and call Magus out on his choice of pairings. They're more than a little ridiculous. If you needed some new Adams and Eves to reboot the human race, would two of your subjects be as old as Koenig and Russell? And would one of these humans be a Psychon? The latter makes a bit more sense when we discover Magus is just a guy who likes to conduct genetic experiments.

The mechanics of the plot work well, at least. Magus' powers are dependent on daylight, something that's shown in several ways so the characters can come to the right conclusion. He's sloppy, but not so dumb that it's no feat beating him. The pit trap is a good moment - he goes down the hole satisfyingly - and then New Eden just blows up under the Moon's gravitational stress. Well, okay. You'd think the Moon would crack too though. I guess the whole thing was an artificial construct held together by Magus' willpower, like the Beyonder planet or something. That's fine. I also like how the people left on the Moonbase have accepted all the explosions around them are probably just someone trying to force Koenig to do something. It happens often enough; no use thinking it's about them.HEY, ISN'T THAT... Guy Rolfe is the Magus; at least one breed of geek will know him from the Puppet Master movie series.REWATCHABILITY: Medium - A straightforward story, somewhere between one of Trek's false gods episodes and The Island of Dr. Moreau. Nothing fancy, but nothing terrible.